The “Han River” is now the “Hangang”, thank you very much

On the 29th the city of Seoul introduced new public names and facilities in the Han River parks to reduced confusion among citizens and domestic and overseas tourists.

First, the 12 city parks known as “Han River Citizens’ Park” will have “citizen” removed from their names and be known as “Han River Park #___”.

When the parks were established in the 1980s they were seen as being for “citizens” and that was placed in their names, but because today there is no need to emphasize that they are for citizens, the parks and entrances became known as “Han River Park” beginning in March of this year.

Additionally, Ttukseom Resort Station naturally became known as Ttukseom Han River Park.

The lower bank passages that link together the Han River, bound by streets and embankments, with the nearby areas have been called “rabbit holes” for their narrow size, but now they have a new name with a bright image.

The city promoted environmentally friendly lower bank passages in 2007, and gave them the native Korean word for “interchange” (나들목), meaning “a corner for crossing”.

The city specified that, in English, it is preferable that the Han should be called “Hangang (River)” rather than the more typical “Han River”.

The city emphasized that “Han River” is its proper name and explained that the Seoul City English expressions dictionary used the term “Hangang”.